TVTropes: Anti Sue examples - October 10, 2011

* The ''CityOfHeroes'' character [[http://www.virtueverse.net/wiki/Leah_Carpenter Leah Carpenter]], a (not so) CuteMonsterGirl with an insipid backstory that serves as a failed TakeThat against MarySue (or, more accurately, CommonMarySueTraits). She's incredibly loathsome, selfish, judgmental, and self-deprecating. She's also the CosmicPlaything, with an exaggeratedly huge amount of tragedy in her life that a SympatheticSue only wishes she could have. Yet in spite of this, the plot still idolizes her and the whole thing reads out like a battle between two cosmic deities, one bent on destroying her and one bent on saving her. Her personality means next to nothing as she walks through the story. Not to mention that canon characters get derailed like nothing to facilitate the "plot"... and this happens to be a troper's OldShame. [[ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime It all seemed like a clever idea at the time]].

* Mike, the protagonist of ''FanFic/KnightOfLolicon'', is an example of a character who is both an AntiSue and a GodModeSue at the same time. He is repeatedly described as an {{Otaku}} with no social life, yet when a beautiful female falls out of the sky, she not only falls for him instantly, but he is the only person who can save TheMultiverse, and is immediately accepted in the worlds he visits despite intruding on countless {{Canon}}s. He is also NighInvulnerable (due to AppliedPhlebotinum, but ''still''...) and [[InvincibleHero never loses against the bad guy]].

!!Canon Examples:

[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]

* James Howlett/Logan/Wolverine in the ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}'' franchise. It varies from source to source, but he is largely presented as a small, smelly, hairy drunkard with a tendency towards unnecessary violence who smokes like a chimney and spends way too much time going after barely legal women. When he turned out to be very popular, those RunningTheAsylum basically [[PopularityPower made him a Sue in recent years]], [[SpotlightStealingSquad giving him way too much screen time]]. This is more and more blatant ever since the movies, where he was pretty much a full-blooded Stu; his solo film is sometimes referred to as "the fourth ''[[WolverinePublicity Wolverine]]'' movie". Having Hugh Jackman cast in the role didn't help either, adding sheer [[EstrogenBrigadeBait physical]] [[FanYay attractiveness]] to Wolvy's already-established {{badass}}ery...

* This is another reason that the Sentry is so commonly despised. He has dozens of character defects and psychological problems, forcing him into being AchillesInHisTent 80% of the time, but every character loves and accepts him, he's considered to be one of the most powerful heroes on the planet, he appears in a large amount of crossovers, and he's basically unstoppable when he's not utterly useless.

** Since the Sentry was originally written as a parody/joke character, and his powers involve [[spoiler: his greatest enemy being a manifestation of his own self-loathing and insecurity]], combined with the fact that some of his own co-heroes (and he himself, on several occasions) acknowledge that his powers take him several steps higher on the staircase to godhood than most other Marvelverse characters, this is partially justified.

** Compare the Sentry at the end of his miniseries to the Sentry in the canon MarvelUniverse; he may have been massively derailed. The Sentry was never meant to be a recurring character, and when he entered the canon universe it rapidly became clear that [[BoredOnBoard nobody knew how to write him]]. Both his strengths and weaknesses are exaggerated to the point where he is unrecognizable when compared to his original depiction. Those who genuinely enjoyed the original miniseries were [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks not happy]].

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* ''Loverboy'' (not the one with Patrick Dempsey) has Kyra Sedgwick's character being as cold and snippy to ''everyone'' short of her own son (the title being his nickname) yet men such as Matt Dillon's character being almost magically drawn to her, kept her son out of school until Age 7 without getting even charged, has the movie itself attempt to villainize the teachers for being realistic towards her while all being intercut with flashbacks to [[FreudianExcuse explain her actions]]. However, it goes UpToEleven when [[spoiler: attempts to kill herself '''and her son''' via pills and carbon monoxide poisoning in the sealed-off garage, which only kills her then cuts to a flashforward where he [[ShillingTheWesley warmly talks about how great she was]], even finding meaning in her [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} beliefs]] Dam.]]. However, it becomes painfully clear that she ''really'' gets away with all this is because the director is Kevin Bacon, her husband.

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* Every main character from the LeftBehind series. They're Mary Sues according to the authors, but for those of us living in the real world, it's hard to imagine how such sleazy, cowardly, judgmental, and straight-up-dumb characters can be the "heroes."

* RobertAHeinlein's Lazarus Long was grouchy, sarcastic, abrasive and cynical, with outdated attitudes and a death wish... who every man wanted to be and every woman wanted (and had), and who was effectively immortal to boot. In fact several of Heinlein's characters seem to fit this mold, especially in his later years. Not to mention, most of Long's hero worship (of both male and female varieties) occurs on a planet [[MarySueTopia he founded, which effectively worships him as "the senior."]]. He's mentioned as being fired/enslaved/ran off planet elsewhere for his views.

* GregoryBenford's Nigel Walmsley is an abrasive personality with a tendency to get into trouble with authority figures. Nevertheless, he is a world-famous astronaut, scientist, and a ladies man with a talent for getting into [[AuthorAppeal threesome relationships with pairs of hot bisexual women]]. Despite his basic interpersonal incompetence, he has displayed the ability to successfully play the political game when he puts his mind into it. He is always right when it doesn't come into his personal life and has made more than his share of discoveries of aliens. Despite being a NonActionGuy, he has successfully used violence in a pinch. His most unlikely power is however the ability to decode alien radio signals. Remarkably, there had never been proper communication with the aliens, the transmission was a brief history of their race in pictures, and ''he decoded the whole thing in his head by hearing it played once. As sound.''

* Mack in ''TalesOfMU''. While she's probably being self-deprecating when she talks about her own unattractiveness, there's no real subjective nature to the facts that she's rude, snappish, self-centered, immature, and a danger to herself and others. And yet people still fall madly in love (or lust, or obsession) with her after only days or weeks of knowing her, a good portion of the cast is looking at her to lead a fight for their equality, and the only people that seem to truly dislike her are nasty-mean bigots and just plain jerks.

* Raven from Rhiannon Lassiter's ''Hex'' series. On the forums of the author's website, Lassiter actually admits that Raven is meant to be her alter ego. Raven is constantly described throughout the series as cold, antisocial, and possibly psychotic. However, she is also more powerful and skilled than any other mutant with the Hex gene, a skilled hacker, proficient in the use of weapons, and apparently socially adept enough to pose as a media executive who impresses powerful businessmen. She tends to spout wordy philosophical discourses on society and possesses the vocabulary of a college professor, despite being only 15 years old and supposedly an orphan who escaped from an institution with her siblings and survived on the streets. The first book describes her as very attractive, with a "perfect figure." The books repeatedly mention her "obsidian eyes." Everyone is in awe of her, even if they are frightened of her and doubt her sanity. She is apparently a Goth, as she always wears black and listens to 20th century heavy metal despite the fact that the setting is the 23rd century. Apparently the author named another character, Ali, after a real-life classmate she didn't get along with, and the fictional Ali is constantly referred to as a popular, pretty airhead who is made to feel worthless by Raven's superior skill and competence in all things. Keep in mind that the author started this book series in her teens, and got published very early.

* KurtVonnegut's recurring character Kilgore Trout is an ugly, unsuccessful science-fiction author with bad hygiene, who takes odd jobs to supplement his usual income from the porn magazines who buy his stuff for filler. And he's frequently more clued-in to what's going on around him than about half of his fellow characters. (''Timequake'' ends with [[spoiler:him saving the world by thinking of exactly the right thing to say at the right time]].)

* In ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'': Though she is never portrayed as malicious or obviously unlikeable, a lot of time is spent stressing how clumsy, average and otherwise imperfect Bella Swan is. Nevertheless, everybody loves her (at least five guys are immediately attracted to her) except for the obviously mean characters.

** There's also the fact that it doesn't take a lot of digging to interpret her as malicious and unlikeable. Bella makes a habit of commenting (usually unfavorably) on other people's appearances, for example. She's also been known to compare a friend to a dog, completely ignore her friends on a girls-night-out and make no show of hiding it, lie to her father (and other people who love her) multiple times, etc. According to some AlternativeCharacterInterpretation[=s=], she's supposed to be an UnreliableNarrator.

* The Jane Madison series by Mindy Klasky. The heroine frequently describes herself as (and/or acts) unattractive, unintelligent and generally incompetent, while incredible opportunities and good fortune rain down on her like criticisms on windows. Although to be fair, she is generally too stupid or incompetent to take advantage of most of these.

[[AC:{{Webcomics}}]]

* CtrlAltDel's Ethan. There are many reasons: his obvious AuthorAvatar-ness, his incredibly antisocial personality, committing social behavior a 5 year old knows not to do, yet the series constantly revolves around him, all the other characters talk about nothing but him, he conveniently becomes [[NewPowersAsThePlotDemands invincible and highly intelligent whenever necessary, even being able to built two sentient robots]], and gets his girlfriend to apologize to him after she has a miscarriage. It just makes things worse that he is still the least likable character in the entire series, and several characters have been [[DisproportionateRetribution unnecessarily punished]], or even [[PutOnABus removed from the series]] to give Ethan more screen time.

** YMMV.

* Davan of ''SomethingPositive'' is probably a mild-to-middling example. While the comic likes to [[{{Anvilicious}} hammer home]] what an unattractive, mean-spirited, hopeless failure of a human being he is, he still has numerous women fall for him (or at least willing to come back to his place for a one night stand), has devoted friends (who, admittedly, are usually just as horrible people as he is), and says a lot of extremely rude, insulting, or just plain mean things to everyone he meets (often including his boss) [[KarmaHoudini without any apparent comeuppance]].

** To be fair, pretty much the entire casts treats everyone including each other that way, so it's not like any of them have a right to judge.

* Cuthwald of ''{{NSFW Comix}}'' is sort of a [[ParodySue joke anti-Sue]] for the author, Cybersp0nge. He describes the inspiration for him as being himself when he was younger. But everything surrounds the character, ''in a very bad way''. Mostly ending up with Cuthwald going to jail for sexual harassment of some form or another.

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

* Here's a [[http://nine.frenchboys.net/suemary.php generator]] for these in ''LesMiserables''.

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* Blaineley from ''TotalDramaWorldTour'' basically combines the worst traits of [[{{Jerkass}} Chris]], [[ImNotHereToMakeFriends Heather]], and [[TheWesley Owen]], annoys everyone during the Aftermaths, and then becomes an actual contestant, apparently just because the writers needed to fill up a few episodes and didn't want to bring an actually ''interesting'' character in.

* This is how [[YourMileageMayVary a portion]] of the ''FamilyGuy'' fanbase see Peter Griffin in some of the most recent seasons:he became a massive JerkAss with absolutely no redeeming trait that [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares for himself]]. Despite all the crap he pulls on everybody, including his own family, he not only gets away with everything, but he never feels repentant for his actions. And, despite all of this, his family loves him and keeps putting Peter's happiness over theirs.

** [[UglyGuyHotWife The real kicker is that he's somehow married to]] ''[[UglyGuyHotWife Lois]]'', who has somehow remained loyal to him despite being as negatively impacted by his bullshit as anyone and openly objecting to it. [[TheSimpsons At least Homer's]] a well-meaning idiot.